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Detroit Area Employment — March 2015

Job Growth Up 2.0 Percent Over the Year

Total nonfarm employment in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 1,909,600 in March 2015, up 38,200 or 2.0 percent over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count increased 2.3 percent. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that the Detroit metropolitan area has had over-the-year employment increases each month since June 2010. (See chart 1 and table 1; the Technical Note at the end of this release contains metropolitan area definitions. All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

The Detroit metropolitan area is made up of two metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. The Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills division, which accounted for 62 percent of the metropolitan area's employment, added 26,500 jobs from March a year ago, a gain of 2.3 percent. The Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia Metropolitan Division, the area’s other employment center, experienced an increase of 11,700 jobs over the 12-month period, a 1.6 percent rise.

Industry employment

The largest over-the-year employment increase in the Detroit metropolitan area in March 2015 was in manufacturing, up 10,900 or 4.6 percent. Both of Detroit’s metropolitan divisions posted employment gains in this supersector from March 2014, with the Warren division adding 6,200 jobs and the Detroit division adding 4,700 jobs over the year. Nationwide, employment in manufacturing rose 1.6 percent from the previous March. (See chart 2.)

Professional and business services, the largest supersector in the Detroit area, added 8,900 jobs, a 2.5-percent gain from March a year ago. The bulk of this gain occurred in the Warren division which added 8,000 jobs over the year. Nationally, employment in the professional and business services supersector increased 3.5 percent from March 2014.

Mining, logging, and construction experienced the third largest employment gain in the Detroit area, up 8,700 from March 2014 to March 2015. The 16.4-percent rate of job growth was the highest among the local area supersectors that posted annual employment gains from March a year ago. While both divisions added jobs, the rate of job growth in Detroit (20.1 percent) was faster-paced than that of Warren (14.8 percent).

Trade, transportation, and utilities, the area’s second largest supersector added 5,300 jobs, up 1.5 percent from the previous March. Nationwide, trade, transportation, and utilities grew by 2.3 percent.

Two other supersectors added more than 2,000 jobs over the year in the Detroit area. Education and health services employment increased by 2,600 or 0.9 percent and financial activities employment rose by 2,400 or 2.3 percent. Nationwide, employment in education and health services increased 2.5 percent and financial activities employment rose 1.9 percent from March 2014.

Government lost 2,000 jobs in the local area from March 2014 to March 2015, the only supersector in the Detroit metropolitan area with job losses over the year. The employment decline was concentrated in the Detroit division which lost 1,800 jobs (-2.1 percent). The local area’s rate of job decline in this supersector, at 1.1 percent, compared to a 0.3-percent rate of job growth nationwide.

Metropolitan area employment data for April 2015 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, June 3, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

Changes to Current Employment Statistics Data

Effective with the release of January 2015 data, nonfarm payroll employment estimates for states, metropolitan areas, and metropolitan divisions were revised to reflect 2014 benchmark levels. For more information on benchmark procedures, see http://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cesbmart.htm.

Revised metropolitan area and metropolitan division delineations were also implemented with the release of January 2015 data. The revised delineations were issued by the Office of Management and Budget for solely statistical purposes through Bulletin No. 13-01 on February 28, 2013, based on the application of updated statistical standards to U.S. Census Bureau population and journey-to-work data.

Technical Note

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. The CES survey is a Federal-State cooperative endeavor between State employment security agencies and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Definitions. Employment data refer to persons on establishment payrolls who receive pay for any part of the pay period which includes the 12th of the month. Persons are counted at their place of work rather than at their place of residence; those appearing on more than one payroll are counted on each payroll. Industries are classified on the basis of their principal activity in accordance with the 2012 version of the North American Industry Classification System.

Method of estimation. The employment data are estimated using a "link relative" technique in which a ratio (link relative) of current-month employment to that of the previous month is computed from a sample of establishments reporting for both months. The estimates of employment for the current month are obtained by multiplying the estimates for the previous month by these ratios. Small-domain models are used as the official estimators for approximately 39 percent of CES published series which have insufficient sample for direct sample-based estimates.

Annual revisions. Employment estimates are adjusted annually to a complete count of jobs, called benchmarks, derived principally from tax reports which are submitted by employers who are covered under state unemployment insurance (UI) laws. The benchmark information is used to adjust the monthly estimates between the new benchmark and the preceding one and also to establish the level of employment for the new benchmark month. Thus, the benchmarking process establishes the level of employment, and the sample is used to measure the month-to-month changes in the level for the subsequent months.

Reliability of the estimates. The estimates presented in this release are based on sample survey and administrative data and thus are subject to sampling and other types of errors. Sampling error is a measure of sampling variability—that is, variation that occurs by chance because a sample rather than the entire population is surveyed. Survey data are also subject to nonsampling errors, such as those which can be introduced into the data collection and processing operations. Estimates not directly derived from sample surveys are subject to additional errors resulting from the special estimation processes used. The sums of individual items may not always equal the totals shown in the same tables because of rounding.

Employment estimates. Measures of sampling error for state CES data at the supersector level are available on the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov/sae/790stderr.htm. Information on recent benchmark revisions for states is available at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this release reflect the delineations issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on February 28, 2013. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Mich. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Oakland, St. Clair, and Wayne Counties in Michigan.

The Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia, Mich. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Wayne County in Michigan.

More complete information on the technical procedures used to develop these estimates and additional data appear in Employment and Earnings, which is available online at www.bls.gov/opub/ee/home.htm. Industry employment data for states and metropolitan areas from the Current Employment Statistics program are also available in the above mentioned news releases and from the Internet at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry supersector, the United States and the Detroit metropolitan area and its components, not seasonally adjusted (numbers in thousands)